Old Wesley 17 Tallaght 11

OLD WESLEY R.F.C. 17

TALLAGHT R.F.C. 11

Try: Aaron Morgan
Pen: Danny Behan 2

Metro League Division 711/01/14 Ballycorus Road

Tallaght rugby were back in league action after the Christmas break and they travelled to play Old Wesley, one of their main rivals to finish in the top two to make the play-off. Tallaght looked rusty in the first half hour and weren’t able to get anything going in attack. Stephen Heaney saved them a couple of times with some excellence defence but eventually the pressure told.

First Wesley used their excellent backs to outflank Tallaght and score in the right hand corner. The try went unconverted but it wasn’t long before they were over the Tallaght line again. This time they turned down an easy three points in front of the posts and tapped a penalty instead. The bold decision paid off when they forced their way over the line and converted the try for a 12-0 lead.

Danny Behan came off the bench for Tallaght and made a difference with his smart tactical kicking. Some excellent ball-carrying from Morgan got Tallaght going forward at last and it earned Tallaght a penalty which Behan kicked to make the half-time score 12-3 to Wesley.

Simon Sweeney entered the fray in the second half and his ball-carrying made a difference but Tallaght still found scores hard to come by. Behan attempted a long-range penalty but was unfortunate to see his well struck effort come back off the posts. Wesley came back and their excellent out-half sold a lovely dummy to sail through untouched for a try under the posts. The easy conversion was surprisingly missed but at 17-3 the game looked over as a contest.

Tallaght didn’t give up though. More fine ball carries from Sweeney and Morgan earned them a penalty which Behan kicked to make it 17-6. Tallaght then were given another penalty in the Wesley half. They kicked to touch and mauled the ball but were held up close to the line. Gary Doyle passed to Behan who put Morgan over in the corner for the try. Morgan injured himself in scoring the try. An ambulance was called but the paramedics gave him a clean bill of health thankfully and he didn’t need to be admitted to hospital.

Morgan’s try wasn’t converted but at 17-11 Tallaght at least had the consolation of the losing bonus point. There was one more frantic phase of play where Tallaght looked for a winning score but it wasn’t to be and in truth Wesley was deserved winners. Tallaght showed great character though in getting that bonus point and it keeps them two points ahead of Wesley in second place in the table.